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Ok, so... Im Italian Born if it matteres and am now living in Boston. Im in my last year of highschool and got accepted by Columbia University. I want to move to Manhattan but its TOO EXPENSIVE!! You know what im talking about. I was looking into Harlem because its inexpensive and its in Manhattan. I was in NYC last weekend and I spent most my time looking around Harlem, it doesnt really seem all that bad, it looks like a descent place, it looks to me as if it is a nice working class neighborhood. Am I wrong to think that? What do you New Yorkers have to say?
Harlem has good parts and bad parts like the rest of the city.You can't generalize.
Just "do your homework" and visit any prospective neighborhood numerous times at different times of the day and night to get a feel for things.Visit late in the evening and walk from the nearest subway stop to the prospective building and see if you are comfortable.Walk around the neighborhood on a warm evening and see how it feels.
If you do all of this and you feel comfortable that's what's important,not what strangers will say here.Trust your instincts but definitely do the investigation.Neighborhoods sometimes look and feel very different on a warm Saturday night than they do on a cold Tueday afternoon.You need to know that you will be comfortable at all hours and not afraid to go out or come home at night.
I suggest that you click on the "search this forum" tab near the top on the right side. Type in Harlem, and choose "threads". After reading through the different threads, you could then ask specific questions. Also Harlem is a rather large area, and has different sections. The different threads also focus on different areas, and you get different opinions. In the end you will have to visit the areas at different times, weekdays, and weekends to really see for yourself, and form your own opinion.
There are threads on Pleasant Ave in East Harlem, and some threads on Italian Harlem. The area of Pleasant Ave is the area where Italian Americans still live in Harlem, and quite a few have returned in recent years. It is on the East side and Columbia is on the West side. Morningside Heights where Columbia is located, would probably be the most convenient neighborhood, and is not too expensive.
It really depends. I used to live in Boston and I found that people would get offended if I were to say something like "dorchester is not a good area." People would brand me racist, or classist, when in actuality, it was statiscally the worst area of Boston. This doesnt really happen in NYC. If people say its not good, its generally unsafe. No one pretends badareas are simply the victims of bad publicity.
Harlem is a big area, and safety ranges. Its going to be best on the west side near columbia and morningside heights. The worst is spanish harlem on the east side. It can be unsafe all over though. Its not like Boston in that sense. Visit it at night and during the day. Check out outerboros as well. Or further uptown in wash heights north of 180 and near the hudson, west of broadway.
One of the few times I was in Harlem, I saw a huge brawl on Broadway in the 130s. I guess you can't generalize, but it put me off a bit, especially after having heard about how gentrified Harlem is. It isn't as safe as many (brokers) would have you believe, but it isn't as bad as grandma and grandpa who haven't been to New York since 1976 would say. That's my impression, at least. Just keep your wits about you and make sure you're not in one of the crappier areas. But how much more expensive is the area around Columbia? I'd guess the nicer parts of Harlem and some streets in Morningside Heights would be similarly priced. Correct me if I'm wrong.
Harlem is a big area, and safety ranges. Its going to be best on the west side near columbia and morningside heights. The worst is spanish harlem on the east side. It can be unsafe all over though.
These statements are too generalized. There are areas of East Harlem that are very nice.
Morningside Heights is nice but you still have to be careful, I live there, and it is nice, but this is probably because it is mostly coops, not too many rentals. However everything still goes on there, that goes on in every other part of the city.
Thankyou to everyone who replied. I will definetly be going back to NYC this upcoming week as i have the whole week off. Last time I went to Harlem I was looking closely at the Clason Point neighborhood around 7th avenue. I really like the brownstones around that area. Ideas?
Thankyou to everyone who replied. I will definetly be going back to NYC this upcoming week as i have the whole week off. Last time I went to Harlem I was looking closely at the Clason Point neighborhood around 7th avenue. I really like the brownstones around that area. Ideas?
clason point is a neighborhood in the bronx....personally i dont like 7th avenue north of 125th street. its more ghetto and run down, and there's projects too (st nick and drew hamilton), and those two projects IMO are 2 of the top 3 worst ones in harlem, wagner being the other. ACP (adam clayton powell jr. blvd aka 7th ave) south of 125th is much nicer.
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Do you see Harlem in the news everyday regarding BAD things...NO! You look for trouble you willl find it any where...Harlem is a very happening area Even former Prez Clinton had a office in Harlem and with little security an was never harmed......fact he made a lot of friends and was very much accepted.
Do you see Harlem in the news everyday regarding BAD things...NO! You look for trouble you willl find it any where...Harlem is a very happening area Even former Prez Clinton had a office in Harlem and with little security an was never harmed......fact he made a lot of friends and was very much accepted.
Lol, his office is on 125th St. in the NYCHA building... that should make some people pause for a minute, but really, 125th St. is just a normal block of Manhattan.. you can't really base anything about Harlem on that one block. If you were just randomly placed in that area, you wouldn't be able to tell you were in Harlem.
Harlem has good and bad spots, it's a very big neighborhood, you're going to have to do some exploring to find out which spaces you're comfortable in. Everyone has a different level of comfortableness, but you should find something satisfying. The good thing is that many parts of Harlem are reasonably priced, and would not be a long commute to campus, so there should be something to help your needs there.
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